The present invention relates generally to the field of personal area networks (PANs) and, more particularly, to a method for connecting a personal area network to an IP-based network.
Zigbee is a wireless networking standard for low power, low data rate, and lost cost applications. Zigbee is well suited for automation, control, monitoring, and sensing applications in which data is transmitted infrequently at low rates from battery-powered devices. The Zigbee protocol builds upon the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard. This IEEE standard defines a short range, low power, low data rate wireless interface for small devices that have constrained power, CPU, and memory resources.
Zigbee is an open standard with broad industry support. Because of the open standard, Zigbee devices made by different manufacturers will inter-operate. The Zigbee protocol allows ad hoc networking so that devices can be easily added and removed from existing networks. For these reasons, Zigbee technology is expected to emerge as one of the leading technologies for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.
To realize the full potential of Zigbee technology, it will be necessary to enable Zigbee devices residing in a personal area network to communicate with other devices connected to I P networks.